Science

Francesca Toso, Assistant Professor in Human-Centred Design within the HCD Group at the University of Twente, is investigating whether technology can support people with dementia and their loved ones in coming to terms with the diagnosis, preparing for death, and dealing with bereavement. The University’s Technical Medical Centre (TechMed Centre) plays a key facilitating role in her research.

What do billiard balls and Newton’s laws have in common? Quite a lot. Gijs Frijters, an Applied Physics student at the University of Twente, and his classmates studied force, motion, and rotation using a pool table. Gijs shares, “To some extent, studying Physics does change how I look at everyday things.”

The energy transition requires action. Not just from policymakers or engineers, but precisely from the people who have to do it: the installation engineers, work planners and technicians. They are the key to change. But how do you give them space to learn the necessary skills as well as to innovate?

The Mathematics of Imaging & AI (MIA) research group at the University of Twente investigates the use of AI in medical imaging and image analysis, as well as the potential to extract more information from existing data than is currently possible. According to Associate Professor Dr Jelmer Wolterink, developments in this field must be applicable in clinical practice. The fact that he is familiar with both the technical and medical worlds is a key factor in this.

Every once in a while, in a quiet corner of the TechMed Centre of the University of Twente, anonymous employees roll up their sleeves and donate a small tube of blood. Not to save a life today, but to provide real human blood for scientific research.